The Will to Fight
by Adven277
Summary: He claims that she'll lose the will to fight once her memories of him return. Will she prove him wrong? Slight Cloti.


**A/N: **Right. That little cutscene of theirs in Dissidia 012 inspired me to do this.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY 7.**

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><p>I have no memories whatsoever of my world, except for my name. The only thing known to me is the fact that my friends are here by my side, fighting a war that may be impossible to win, but despite all this, I know that I'm not alone. My trust is with them, even if the doubts welling inside of me keeps holding me back.<p>

Even if they aren't here, and a blade is an inch from slicing my throat.

His green eyes are smiling unto my hazel ones, and his grip on the incredibly long blade tightens. How did we get into this situation? All I wanted was to find my friends. With great anxiety, I stare at the man who has me at his grasp. His long, silver hair gleams with a tint of green due to the glowing emerald light flowing around us. Floating rocks serve as our stronghold as I continue to wonder who this man truly is.

A while ago, he confronted me, looking for a fight. He claims confidently that we are from the same world, and that if we cross blades, part of our memories will return. If this is true, I wonder if unconsciously, some of my own did. Will it count if I lost? Because, that's exactly what happened.

"If I cut you down, will your fall serve to unlock even deeper memories?" His low, monotonous voice questions me, but it seemed like the question was more directed at him rather than at his prey.

Who is this person? He seems vaguely familiar. When I look at him, scorching flames glowing red and orange starts to kindle behind the man in the black coat, and his entire face darkens except for his eyes and smile. I feel the rising of the hair at the back of my neck, and anger seeps into my skin. I want to kill him, for some reason hatred is forming within me. I want to kill this man, but the all too familiar feeling of helplessness overwhelms me.

Have I felt this way around him before?

Feeling lost, I remain still. Maybe if I did then he'll become bored and leave me alone, but he seems determined to finish me today. Is this the end? Will everything disappear because of this man? I feel as if he has taken something similar from me, like… a home, a family… someone dear.

"Sephiroth, stop!" So the one before me is called Sephiroth? A man with cerulean eyes and blonde spiky hair intervenes. He seems alarmed. I can see desperation in his eyes, and it feels as if that emotion had been perfectly at home with him. What I don't understand is why he is so desperate to save me.

Sephiroth's eyes waver from mine. He still faces me, but he stares behind him and speaks arrogantly. "A little late to the party," he looks at me again, "aren't you, Cloud?"

Suddenly he pushes his blade closer to my skin, and to my embarrassment, I gasp nervously. The man who intervened yelled at him to stop and he immediately takes out his huge sword, and if I'm not mistaken, the grin on Sephiroth's face widens as he speaks.

"Raising a blade against me? Then you leave me no choice." He says, and thankfully, he lowers his blade from me and turns to face my rescuer, instead. From then on, a fight between them began.

I could only watch from the shadows as the blonde mystery clashed blades with the black coated man. The battle was strangely familiar, like I was watching them fighting from afar long ago, as well. His yellow hair is flapping as he moves about, reminding me of a kind of huge bird with the same color, which I don't recall the name. Unconsciously, I chuckled, which I shouldn't have been doing since he's out there fighting for me.

Why is he helping me, anyway? Is he summoned as a warrior by the same goddess who called me? If so, then it's really no mystery.

The battle ends without a verdict, and Sephiroth's back is turned from us. "That's enough for now. There will be time later to take your life in trade for this betrayal." He says, though I really have no idea on what he's talking about. The silver-haired man leaves, and the one with spiky blonde hair is left standing alone as he releases a heavy sigh, he looks kind of sad, so I approach him.

"Hey, thanks for helping me out back there." I say, trying to sound unfazed to make up for my lack of composure a while ago.

A few seconds pass before he decides to answer. "It's no big deal." His voice is low, like that man earlier, but it's nice to hear, like I've been hearing it since… forever.

No big deal, though? Yeah, right. "No, really, I thought I was a goner. So, hey, my name's Tifa." While introducing myself, I take closer steps to him, not caring if I was making him at all uncomfortable. "You're one of Cosmos' warriors too, huh?"

He shakes his head, facing forward. He doesn't meet my eyes, but I ignore it. "Actually no," he says, "I'm on the other side."

Hold on a minute there. "Wait. So you fought one of your allies?" I ask. "Why?"

If I wasn't mistaken, I could've sworn I heard a low chuckle. Maybe it was a mistake, after all. This man didn't look like the type to even so much as form a small smile. Why would he fight one of his own for my sake? We're supposed to be enemies.

"I felt like it" is his answer.

I repeat the question, in case I heard wrong. "You felt like it?" He gives me a nod.

"Yeah."

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Let me get this straight: you rescue your enemies when the mood strikes you?" I ask, my voice sounds slightly mocking, despite my hardest efforts to hide it. He doesn't react or anything. Actually, I can't seem to get any kind of reaction from him expect for a few emotionless words. Intriguing.

"Something like that." He says. Who knows if it's his way of joking around, in any case, it feels like we've had conversations like this before. It just feels right to keep on urging him to talk.

"Guess it would make sense for warriors of Chaos to be a little unpredictable. Still surprises me though…" my words trail off, but I catch them just in time.

"Speaking of which," I face him. His eyes are as blue as the sea, but they were gentle, they weren't so until now. It feels as if there's something more to those eyes, like a… mark or something. "You haven't told me your name." I say.

He wasn't meeting my eyes before, and he faces away even more, leaving me a bit confused. Do I look intimidating, or am I just hard to be around with? Silence keeps us company for a while, before he reveals his name to me.

"I'm Cloud."

My eyes widen as a feeling of nostalgia seeps into me. I find myself repeating his name. Cloud, Cloud, Cloud… where have I heard that name before? His name reminds me of a starry night sky, where I imagine myself sitting on a water tower, feet swaying and bumping playfully on the wooden structure. He reminds me of feelings I've never had before, feelings I've never felt with anyone else. Hazy images of a cute little blond kid fill my vision from above. He's looking at me with a determined expression, but reserves a shy composure. I smile warmly.

Cloud's nervous clearing of his throat snaps me back to reality, and I shake all the weird emotions away. "Sorry." He doesn't respond. "So, _Cloud_… Are you—I mean, do we know each other?" I ask.

It feels okay to admit things to him. He has that certain aura that makes you trust him. "I can't remember much of anything for before… all this. But when I heard your name, I thought we might—"

"No," he cuts rather sharply, "I've never met you before."

Really? That's too bad. I'm almost certain that we have. Now my head is filled with debating on whether I should ask him about the water tower or not. "No, huh?" I say dishearteningly. "Sorry, but a girl's got to ask."

Enough of all this drama. "Anyway, thanks again for saving my skin." I smile. "The way you showed up and fought that guy off," Slowly, I walk towards the edge of the hovering mass of rock we've been standing on, and I stare at the horizon. Couldn't find any horizon to stare at, though. "It was a pretty cool thing to watch."

This situation feels familiar, too. I recall standing on the edge of a rocky surface, staring out into the horizon, with my back facing someone very important to me. Shrugging the memories away, I continue teasing him. "You were like a hero, charging in to save the girl."

I heard him gasp softly. Was it at the word 'hero?'

Wait… hero? My thoughts return to the starry night sky. This time, everything was clear. He called me to the water tower, and vowed to join that… that military something. He told me he was going to become strong and famous, and then I strong-armed him into making him promise to come save me whenever I was in a pinch. Funny, because later on, we met on different terms, and we strived to search for the truth. We both discovered that he joined… SOLDIER, that's it, for me. He wanted me to notice him, and I did. Oh, if he only knew I did. I tried to tell him so many times, but the words couldn't find their way out of my mouth. Then realization hit me.

Words aren't the only way to convey your feelings.

That night. That fateful night, was truly the most memorable for me. How could I have forgotten?

…Cloud.

The boy next door, who tried so hard to become my friend.

Cloud.

The man who had saved me so many times.

Cloud…

The father of our family, the person dearest to me.

…Cloud Strife.

"Chaos… and Cosmos." I say, now feeling as if the world was thrown into my shoulders. Sadness is overwhelming me, and he knew that this would happen, despite knowing everything. "Since you're one of Chaos' chosen warriors, I guess we'll have to fight each other eventually."

He closes his eyes, and then I know I'm right. "I guess so." He replies nonchalantly, but there's no fooling me. I can tell he's taking this really hard. Cloud, you idiot. You're trying to do everything yourself again. A sharp pain stabs through my chest, and I fight the urge to cry. The reason he's trying to hide everything from me is because he doesn't want me to experience the same thing that happened to him when he regained his memories.

He… lost the will to fight.

I tell him part of how I really feel. "I don't know if I can bring myself to think of you as an enemy." My eyes close, trying so hard to prevent them from falling, but they shoot wide open when he speaks in a cold tone.

"Well you sure better try," he says, "once you start second-guessing, you're done for." A depressed sigh releases itself from my chest, and he continues. He's still not facing me. "We're enemies no matter how you look at it. We have to fight."

Why? Is this really the right decision? I doubt that he's really going to fight me, he's too kind for that. What is he planning to do? My gaze follows him as he takes cautious steps in front of me, reversing our positions from before.

"But for now, you should head back and join your friends, before I have another change of heart."

Change of heart, psh-yeah right. I could've given a better reply than 'huh?'

"I'm not in a fighting mood today. Go. You should leave while you still have the chance." I was kind of expecting this from him. He always was the type to hide his true feelings, but knowing that he's doing all this for my sake is just… "Before you… change your mind?"

"Yes." He says, and we both turn our heads away from each other. Why is he always like this? Why can't he be more honest? I want to take away all of his uncertainty, tell him everything's going to be okay. Maybe yelling at him is a good idea, too, but he'll definitely find out that my memories have returned.

Starting to leave, I stop halfway. Who knows, maybe I was expecting something more. "Cloud?" I attempt my parting words, but even until the end, he doesn't have the guts to face me. "Will I see you again?"

It was a fast answer, really. "You will. But the next time we meet will be as enemies, I won't go easy on you."

Honestly, there are a millions reasons that I can come up with to not believe in his story. I squeeze my eyes shut, locking the despair I'm feeling deep within my heart, and open them again, brimming with new resolve.

"Thanks for the warning."

I walk away.

Cloud will see. I'll prove him wrong. Despite having my memories now, I'll prove to him that I can hold on to my will to fight, and use it to protect him with all I have, and maybe then… he'll find his.


End file.
